Witness accused of 'dummying up' at murder trial

By Christopher Baxter, Globe Staff

A 22-year-old Dorchester man has been accused of lying on the stand during a murder trial last summer because prosecutors say they refused to cut him a deal on an unrelated gun charge.

Kyrice Grady pleaded not guilty today at his arraignment in Suffolk Superior Court on a perjury charge stemming from the 2004 slaying of 14-year-old Da-Keem Galloway.

Grady was held on $100,000 cash bail. He had been scheduled to be released on parole today after serving an 18-month prison sentence for illegal possession of a firearm and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building.

Grady’s lawyer, J. Lawrence Kelly, said after the arraignment that the case “came as a complete surprise” to his client.

“A simple deviation between testimony now and testimony months later is not, in and of itself, perjury,” Kelly said. “The government would have to prove specific intent to deceive.”

The Suffolk District Attorney's office issued a statement this morning that said that Grady's trial testimony directly contradicted the story he initially told investigators. Grady testified before a grand jury that he knew of a running dispute over a Celtics baseball cap between Galloway and 31-year-old Charon Ray. He told the grand jury that he watched Ray shoot Galloway in the head on the evening of June 10, 2004, according to the statement.

Before Ray's trial, Grady was arrested on a gun charge and he allegedly demanded a deal, promising otherwise to "dummy up" on the stand. Prosecutors said they refused to cut a deal, and Grady followed through on the threat, according to the statement. At the trial, Grady testified that he did not know the defendant, denied witnessing the killing, and even said he did not write the initials "KG" on a photo of Ray that prosecutors say he selected out of a police lineup.

Despite Grady's testimony, a jury convicted Ray of murder and he is serving life in prison.

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